Ok, so I built two computers, thinking that I needed two, that they would run better if they each had to do less. Very happy with both, but now I feel I do not need two computers.

I am going to sell both of these rigs, one i7-920, and a 3.0 Wolfdale.... new build will be with a Gulftown 990 and Asus rampage iii x58 sata 6.0 usb 3.0 board. I think I want to use the new intel 510 SSD 120G for a boot drive. I am planning on using all of the SATA ports for storage drives, WD Black 1T, except for one optical drive. My main use is for image editing, Lightroom 3 and photoshop CS5, and I shoot with a Canon 5dmkii, so the files are large. I also shoot some video. I would like to take advantage of the SATA 6.0. Wondering about one of the Seagate Cheetah 15,000 rpm drives for my Lightroom Library.

What do I need to be aware of in terms of ensuring that I am utilizing the SATA 6.0 capabilities of the drives and board?

Also, currently I have 4 storage drives on one rig, and 5 on the other. Can I just disconnect these, and they will be recognized in the new build?

Currently on the i7 rig, there is 12G of RAM. That computer works well, I am not sure if that much RAM is overkill or not. With the Gulftown 990/ Asus Rampage build, for Lightroom and Photoshop, what is a good amount of RAM to use? Also, what difference do the different types of RAM make? I have been using the OCZ platinum.

I want to mildly overclock the new build, to a level slightly below what I can find stable running. I need reliability and speed.

Lastly, Thank you to all the members who make up this forum. I have learned a lot here, and this is one of the first places I come with questions..

Ok, so I built two computers, thinking that I needed two, that they would run better if they each had to do less. Very happy with both, but now I feel I do not need two computers.

I am going to sell both of these rigs, one i7-920, and a 3.0 Wolfdale.... new build will be with a Gulftown 990 and Asus rampage iii x58 sata 6.0 usb 3.0 board. I think I want to use the new intel 510 SSD 120G for a boot drive. I am planning on using all of the SATA ports for storage drives, WD Black 1T, except for one optical drive. My main use is for image editing, Lightroom 3 and photoshop CS5, and I shoot with a Canon 5dmkii, so the files are large. I also shoot some video. I would like to take advantage of the SATA 6.0. Wondering about one of the Seagate Cheetah 15,000 rpm drives for my Lightroom Library.

What do I need to be aware of in terms of ensuring that I am utilizing the SATA 6.0 capabilities of the drives and board?

Also, currently I have 4 storage drives on one rig, and 5 on the other. Can I just disconnect these, and they will be recognized in the new build?

Currently on the i7 rig, there is 12G of RAM. That computer works well, I am not sure if that much RAM is overkill or not. With the Gulftown 990/ Asus Rampage build, for Lightroom and Photoshop, what is a good amount of RAM to use? Also, what difference do the different types of RAM make? I have been using the OCZ platinum.

I want to mildly overclock the new build, to a level slightly below what I can find stable running. I need reliability and speed.

Lastly, Thank you to all the members who make up this forum. I have learned a lot here, and this is one of the first places I come with questions..

Cheers!

Just plug the sata-6 drive into a sata-6 port and off you go.

6-8gb is plenty for your new build unless you do serious vm'ing.

As for drives get the 15k rpm ones, even then you will only notice a speed difference (sata6 vs sata3) in burst.

You should be able to get at least 4.2ghz out of the i7 with good cooling.

First make sure your board has the appropriate SATA III ports.
Second I would recommend getting a Vertex 3 vs the Intel SSD
Third 12GB of RAM may be necessary, you should be able to help determine that based off your current usage.
Fourth 15k rpm you alrdy stated you had or are getting.
Fifth With a Good cooler your 990x will hit close to 5Ghz, see Sins related post about it.

Edit
Sixth, yes data drives can be disconnected from current system and connected to new. Only problems arise is when the OS is on the drive and hardware changes, not all hardware at that.

Why the Vertex? I thought I had read about relaibility issues. Any truth to that?

I do not have the 15,000 rpm drives, but fast write speed when loading CF cards, and when Lightroom is wirting full size previews for long term storage. ( a sitting can easily be 60G of data from CF cards)

Alright so I will agree on the Vertex 3 for your OS drive. I certainly haven't heard of reliablity issues at all with it.

The 12GB should work well for photo editing and video editing but adding more may help depending on your normal usage. For right now the 12GB should be fine since you have the option to expand with most x58 boards like the G1 Assassin which has 6 RAM slots.

As for overclocking the 990X, just grab a really good cooler like a liquid set up or maybe something like the Noctua NH-D14 and it has very good RAM clearance if you are using RAM coolers that stick up a bit.

For your drives, you should be able to just swap them to the new build with no real issues but I believe you will have to re-authenticate your OS which should take all of a minute to do.